HockeyNow Contributors

My name is Kirk Budden, born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia and moved to Toronto, Ontario to pursue my passion of hockey, in a different fashion. I come from a devote hockey family where I practically grew up in a rink which shaped my obsession with the game.I played competitively at the high school level and dabbled in a few junior camps before making beer league the next step in my career. Writing became an opportunity for me when I was able to take the voices in my head bickering about some hot topic in hockey and put it to paper.

Jamaica’ and ‘hockey’ aren’t often coupled in the same sentence just as the sport isn’t familiar to the tropical country. But that is all looking to change with the Jamaican Olympic International Hockey Federation (JOIHF).

The GTHL Red capture the OHL Gold Cup in dominant fashion as they beat OMHA Black 3-1 in the title game. GTHL Red managed to go undefeated the entire tournament, finishing with a sparkling 5-0 record and only allowing eight goals over the five games.

The OHL Gold Cup, part of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence is heading into the semifinal rounds and has seen some top notch talent from this year’s Under-16 players from the GTHL, OMHA, HEO, ALLIANCE, HNO and NOHA.

Now that another exciting edition of the OHL Cup has finished up, you can see the next wave of young stars at the OHF All-Ontario Bantam AAA championships. Seven of the best Bantam AAA teams from around Ontario battle for the OHF championship in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Prep School Hockey Federation (PSHF) is changing scouts’ minds on how to look at high school hockey. Another year of PSHF hockey is in the books, with both the Under-18 and Under-16 championships wrapping up this past Sunday.

With six teams on the latest Minor Midget Top-10 Rankings now locked into a spot at the 2017 OHL Cup, we haven’t seen any drastic change over the past 11 weeks, but there are some new teams launching up at the right time.

The 2017 World U17 Hockey Challenge is heading back to Dawson Creek and Fort St. John. The tournament will see the best young players from all over the world, for a majority of them playing on an international stage for the first time.

Three B.C. teams from the CSSHL stood out in the Eastern showcase from Feb. 10 to 12 at the CIH Arena in Rockland, Ont. Midget prep teams from the Okanagan Hockey Academy (Penticton), Delta Hockey Academy (Delta) and Yale Hockey Academy (Abbotsford) all had big showings, with each of them getting their largest win on the final day.

Established in 1999, HockeyNow is the only magazine delivering the best in news and stories from across the minor, junior, collegiate and female hockey ranks, both in print and through our world-class website at HockeyNow.ca. Print copies of our 43 annual issues are available free in hockey rinks across B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. We are deeply involved and committed to developing and promoting the game of hockey to our readers through unique perspectives and stories they won’t find anywhere else. See more...